is vladmir putin a dictator?

[flaherty12]

do you think putin is a dictator?

 

[Deng for president]

Being the president of a country whose history advices it to push offensive policies, a country where state departments act primarily in line with private interests, a country where corruption is as large as the state budget, quite effectively hinders Putin from even attempting to use governmental instruments after his own will.

Only because the man is the sole face of a nation we know so little about, does not mean that he is responsible for all its wrong-doings.

 

[MSgt]

Russia is perhaps the most frustrating country in the world.

 

[flaherty12]

Being the president of a country whose history advices it to push offensive policies, a country where state departments act primarily in line with private interests, a country where corruption is as large as the state budget, quite effectively hinders Putin from even attempting to use governmental instruments after his own will.

Only because the man is the sole face of a nation we know so little about, does not mean that he is responsible for all its wrong-doings.

i dissagree.
i think that putin is russia.
he appoints governers, can declare marshall law at any time, and has the power to dissolve congress.

organized crime is huge in russia, but from what i have heard most gangs in russia fear putin because he is ex kgb.
putin knows how to play hardball, and i think just about everyone in russia knows that.

 

[Iriemon]

His term is up in March 2008. We'll find out if he doesn't step down.

 

[MSgt]

His term is up in March 2008. We'll find out if he doesn't step down.

He'll step down. The situation in Russia is frustrating to the outside. As Putin stripped away one freedom after another Russians accepted it willingly. Russia is finding its own way, and Russians will settle for moderate social and economic freedom, ever willing to forgo political responsibility. Russia's democracy has been dissapointing and may prove to dissapoint us most in the future.

Putin's not so much a dictator. He's just determined to keep Russia....Russia.

 

[Tashah]

Democracy, state reforms, and media freedoms have all severely eroded under Putin. Russia was economically raped by oligarchs and organized crime during Yeltsin's years... and Putin has done little to address this pillage or reign-in these elements.

 

[dragonslayer]

Putin learned how to rule by watching Bush and Cheney. :lol:

 

[MSgt]

Putin learned how to rule by watching Bush and Cheney. :lol:

Yeah, because we Americans have it so bad.

 

[Iriemon]

He'll step down. The situation in Russia is frustrating to the outside. As Putin stripped away one freedom after another Russians accepted it willingly. Russia is finding its own way, and Russians will settle for moderate social and economic freedom, ever willing to forgo political responsibility. Russia's democracy has been dissapointing and may prove to dissapoint us most in the future.

Putin's not so much a dictator. He's just determined to keep Russia....Russia.

Russia has significantly different interests that the US and we cannot expect the Russians to be willing to line up behind what is best for the US. As a major oil producer they have far less interest in maintaining stability of oil production in the ME, for example. I always thought it was a mistake to discount the threat of Russia (they are really the only country in world that has the capability of virtually eliminating the US with nuclear weapons) and basically ignore it during the time it was transitioning from communism to democracy. I'll admit I'm not enough of an expert to say exactly what we should have done to assist Russia in that transition, but that is fault I place equally on the last three presidents.

 

[MSgt]

Russia has significantly different interests that the US and we cannot expect the Russians to be willing to line up behind what is best for the US.

Of course not. I merely stated how easy it is for Russians to continue to fall back in line.

The danger of violent confrontation has passed for now, but so has the likelihood of a close strategic relationship. We will cooperate when it serves our mutual interests, a situation vastly preferable to that which prevailed a generation ago (although it still longs to repossess Ukraine.)

But Putin is merely a Russian politician adhering to the traditions that Russians can't seem to evolve from. Unfortunately, a degree of corruption exists in every government. But we cannot pretend that Russia's sole prescrition to its continuing state isn't corruption on every single level. Voters seem to dismiss the responsibilities of power embracement. Its military establihment is so addicted to corruption that their utility approaches nil. Generals are usually pickled with alcohol (sad to say, but entirely a true statement). Even during international conferences (military and political) that they host, it is routine to approach whole tables stacked with hundreds of glasses of vodka. The whole sale theft of privatized corporations in post-Soviet Russia was excused. And their politicians are always making grabs of power over each other. Corruption stifles development-human, economic, and political. Corruption is accepted as the price of doing business for most all of us. But, Russia will always prove to dissapoint as long as such corruption remains "legitimate."